Part of the charm of high school football is in the roadtrips. Forty or fifty boys pile into a big yellow school bus, then eagerly make room for ten or fifteen female cheerleaders. The trip across town is one of excitement and anticipation, but it doesn't compare to the sheer joy of a return trip following a big win.
Perhaps looking to relive those glory days, the Chicago White Sox brought a team of cheerleaders along with them on their trip out west for games three, four, and five of the American League Championship Series. But instead of bringing Buffy, Mindy, and Suzie, the Chisox brought along Neal Cotts, Dustin Hermanson, Orlando Hernández, Bobby Jenks, Damaso Marte, Cliff Politte, and Luis Vizcaíno. I'm sure those members of Chicago's bullpen brought their gloves along with them, but they probably could've left them behind in favor of pom-poms. None of those men threw a single pitch in Anaheim.
Starter Jon Garland went the distance in game three on Friday night, Freddy García matched his effort in Saturday's game four, and ex-Yankee José Contreras turned the trick in Sunday's game five clincher. (Mark Buehrle also tossed a complete game in game two back in Chicago, meaning the Palehose tallied four straight complete games, the first time a team has done that in the postseason since the 1956 Yankees.)
So as an unlikely October rain fell from the California sky, the Chicago White Sox celebrated an unlikely accomplishment. After sweeping a hot team, the defending world champion Red Sox, Chicago cruised past an even hotter team in the Anaheim Angels, and now they find themselves in the World Series for the first time since 1959. They'll play either the Cardinals or Astros, but does it really matter?
The baseball gods seem to be in a redemptive mood lately. In 2004 the Red Sox broke the unbreakable curse, as they exorcised the ghost of Babe Ruth in winning their first World Series since 1918. The other Sox seem to be next in line. Their own curse -- the Curse of the Black Sox -- stretches back more than eighty-five years to the fixing of the 1919 World Series. The last Series win for the White Sox? 1917.
It's time.
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